This post has generated an unusual number of comments. While we encourage open participation, we feel obliged to remind all that the opinions expressed by commentators do not necessarily reflect the views of us here at Dog Show Poop.

Update 1:32 PM CDT. We have closed comments on this post as we feel that the anonymous comments have deteriorated into an unacceptable level of personal attacks. We take no sides in this debate and realize that there is much more to be discussed on this issue, but think this may not be the best venue for that.

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Yeah, looks that way. BIS judge gives BIS to a dog with her kennel name. Ugh, yuk, smells really bad. This really ought to be against the rules. And I'm staying anonymous, Billy, because I have to show under this woman from time to time. Makes me yearn for the UKC

It's no secret the system is broken. If this is true, the judge knew it was her breeding. There is NO reason for anyone to show to her in the future. Why would you want to? If she didn't know it was her breeding, you still wouldn't want to show to her, because she must not be too smart. Pretending to be ignorant in this situation is not very becoming. The owner and handler are also at fault....

Was there a young good looking guy handler behind the dog at this show.This is the judge who will pick a dog as the winner if there is a good look young man behind the dog,even if its not the best one in that breed at that particular show.

There is nothing about the dog being BRED by the judge in the rules - but it does talk about the dog being boarded with the judge. Which I believe WAS the case less than 12 months ago.

Rules Applying to Dog ShowsChapter 11, section 13, page 51

No entry shall be made at any show under a judge of any dog which said judge or any member of his immediate household or immediate family has been known to have owned, handled in the ring more than twice, sold, held under lease or boarded within one year prior to the date of the show.

She's a good, consistent judge that I will show to any day. It looks like she was in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. 30 some odd years ago my mother entered under me while judging at an ASCA show. I didn't give her the win, even though she had the better dog. I was in the wrong for not putting up the best dog in the ring. We won't go into how I never should have been put in that position in the first place. Jackie Stacy never should have been put in that position either by the owner and handler of the dog in question.

Maybe this is a misprint? Benefit of the doubt, but if it is true, she will be blocked from clubs in my area. Seeing that Mrs. Stacy owned and finished the dog. It is why our sport is suffering and people are disheartened.

The 6th point under the Code of Sportsmanship is pretty clear that what happened in this situation is unacceptable from owner up to the judge. Every exhibitor at this show should write to AKC, and well as the kennel club. This is disgraceful, all involved should be embarressed.

Wrong answer about the handler. She's a professional it's her job to know. As for the judge & breeder, it's her job to know also. She had an option to use, but did not. I would assume an AKC was present.

Tiffany Skinner would have to have had no IQ not to have realized that Jackie Stacie bred ( and I think at one point owned) this "Tamarin" Affenpinscher. So it is, too, her partial responsibility for this travesty. She should never have shown the dog to Stacy. And Stacy should have excused her from the ring, just like Peter Green did last year with Ernesto Lara's Airdale at Westminster. And that conflict was far less egregious!It's just disgusting all around. Patty H.

Sydney Good was the AKC rep earlier in the weekend. I'm assuming she was the rep today. It's not a surprise at all that this would happen under her "watch." She is not on the side of Joe Average Exhibitor.Anonymous, for obvious reasons

With Judges giving dogs they've bred BIS's, how do you convince someone new to show thier dog, and better yet, convince them that they have a chance. The number of new exhibitors has been dropping for years. This type of judging is just a contributing factor in the decline of the popularity of dog shows. This isn't the first time this judge has done this, or the only judge to do this.

I believe Mrs. Stacy also gave a dog she bred Best of Breed at Westminster several years ago.This dog returned to her house to be a stud dog in her kennel after its campaign. Not the first time for this kind of shoddy behaviour of putting up a "Tamarin" Affen. She is a disgrace to our sport.

I'm shocked that you are all so surprised at this most recent, in an never ending list of questionable and unsavory actions that this judge has perpetrated over the years. She just keeps getting away with it.

Appalling behavior by all concerned. Ms. Stacy should (and probably does) know better, as should the exhibitor of the dog. I say exhibitor because a true Professional Handler would never put themselves or their clients into a position that Ms.Skinner has put herself into.I'm posting anonymously - not because I don't have the courage of my convictions, but because I have to show against that woman and under the other woman - neither of which I will enjoy now.

SHAME, SHAME,SHAME.Maybe this is the reason for the decline in our entries these days, when we are exposed to a judge who does this kind of thing. You can NOT enter under that judge, but then you have to try and avoid her at group and best in show levels as well.That can ruin 3 days. I guess those clubs will lose out when all exhibitors want is a fair shake.......DEPRESSING

Now I'm even more APPALLED. There is a photo of Mrs. Stacy showing Tamarin Top Banana on her website. Does it get any worse than this????? WOW, unethical at its finest. I blame Mrs. Stacy for this. She is the one with the POWER to have done the right thing and excuse this exhibit from the BIS lineup. I guess this is another good example of her ethics.

I watched Terry Stacy judge in Louisville a few years ago, his obvious lack of knowledge of what is correct type for MANY breeds is missing, and as for Jackie, well, she likes to be SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!!!! and expects to be treated like a queen. I would suggest that every person that reads this website suggest to their local kennel clubs to DROP the Stacys as even an option for their shows, and as another person wrote, my handler will never show to either of them again., which is what I did a few years ago, I have not entereed under them for close to two years now and still manage to get plenty of good wins and even some BISs with either my handler showing for me or myself showing my dogs.

While I want to maintain as free & open communication as possible, I remind all that we have a “No Haters” policy here at Dog Show Poop. Please confine your comments to “constructive” observations. Personal attacks on the judge, handle, & especially the AKC rep are not constructive. Feel free to criticize actions, but wholesale character assassination is not going to be tolerated. I can appreciate the reticent of some anonymous commentors to include their names, but I will disable all comments if we can’t keep the conversation from getting out of hand.

This a disgrace. But some one wrote earlier how Peter excused Ernesto's Airedale and the same thing should have been done in this case. Am I the only one who feels it is wrong for the Tamarin Affens or the dogs in Greenfield kennels to even be shown at shows where the Stacys or Peter Green or Beth Sweigart are on the panel? They may not be judging them but they are having breakfast lunch and dinner with the judges that are! Talk about ethics! They can also bad mouth their competition and manipulate who they want to win. It's no news that these 2 camps are at war. Hopefully no good judges will listen without knowing their objective. What is happening to our sport?

So disappointed in the judge, handler and owner since it appears not one of them stepped up to do the right thing in a situation that was an obvious conflict of interest. From the AKC rules for dog show judges “The responsibility for entering dogs that … create a conflict of interest is with the exhibitor.” In the same booklet under Ethics – Honesty and Common Sense: “The key is to avoid all situations that are likely to give the impression of impropriety. You must do everything possible to keep your reputation above reproach.” Many posters already pointed out the complete disregard for the AKC’s Code of Sportsmanship which should have also helped guide all parties involved in this situation to make the right decision. Sigh…

I am very disappointed that anonymous comments are being printed on your blog. Many of these are stating facts that just are not true.

A dog cannot be entered for BIS. In the instance of these complaints it was the weekend of the National Specialty. All of the top winning Affens in the country were present in the breed. It took two different judges to get this dog to BIS in very good competition. I feel certain this dog would not be entered at a normal show where Mrs Stacy was on the panel.

Many of these anonymous comments are ugly and untrue and some are even slandering the AKC rep and myself.

This is an unusual situation and I fully understand it creats talk. Maybe it is time to have the rules revised. I think the job Mrs Stacy had in this instance was to select the dog she felt came closest to its breed standard. The best comment was dammed if she did and dammed if she didn't.

Please consider keeping comments to facts and not these ugly misinformed statements and personal remarks for the trash.

This reminds me of a very large and prestigious show a few years back, the only difference was there were only 6 in the best in show lineup. The Giant Schnauzer, Spirit, was brought into the BIS ring under Mr Jeffery Pepper, who had recently hired the McFaddens to show some of his dogs. Spirit was allowed to enter the ring, and stack up, but the handler excused herself for a conflict of interest before her examination.Do you think anyone ringside knew that she had shown for the judge? Maybe a few did, but she still chose not to put the judge in that sort of a position, with the #1 dog who was in a TIGHT race. It was very honorable and while I knew it was hard for Taffe to watch best without her dog it, I admire that she make the correct decision to earn her wins honestly. It is bad form what happened here, especially considering that the Stacys are listed as the breeders, finished the dog therefore were more involved than a lot of breeders who sell a puppy are, and are pimping the dog on their website. One of them, either the judge or the handler, should have had the ethics to do as Taffe did and excuse themselves from the ring. Best In Show can go on without a Toy breed. It is sad that this is the only way some people feel they can get their wins.

I think a number of posters correctly identified a key element to the emotion and length/# of responses: the appearance of impropriety of judging your own breeding and what was just recently in your kennel. I have a hard time believing that a breeder of this 'success' and self-described 'toy expert' wouldn't recognize their own breeding, nor would not 'know' who is handling. This dog has been campaigned out west at least to this point-and to show up on the other side of the country in this instance - again a question of impropriety. The rules may 'allow' this to happen, but is this how we want OUR sport to evolve? Maybe this instance is a 'shame on all of us' for not voicing our concerns or outrage about this behavior beyond an anonymous message board....

AKC is at fault also. It's not hard to implement a clear cut rule prohibiting judges from judging, at any LEVEL, dogs they have bred, own, or have owned at any time. Since some judges don't feel the Code of Sportsmanship applies to them, it long overdue for the AKC to step up and make an effort to make dog shows a credible "sport".

I congratulate Terry Stacy for defending his wife. Thats what any honorable man should do. I can't accept that there was "any unusual situation" that would make this acceptable though. It is plain and simply unethical and I would hope he would make a better judgement for himself if he was put in the same situation. It is one huge sour note for "our sport". Thanks to Billy Wheeler for allowing our freedom of speech. Thats what this country is all about.

I am amazed that this judge does not get it. When you are a judge/breeder/owner, you have to make sacrifices that breeder/owners do not have to make. Either you turn down judging assignments or your dogs don't show at certain shows. The fact that this even happened cast a dark shadow over dog shows. The fact that this judge doesn't get it, casts a dark shadow over the judges that would do this.

Of course Terry Stacy should defend his wife. And yes, it's technically correct that the dog was not entered "under" her, which would have been a clear rules violation. So she was within the letter of the law. But can he not see how bad this looks? And as to the posts being anonymous, well, duh! Of course they are! In such a subjective sport, with a judge who doesn't seem to play fair, who wants to put their neck on the chopping block?As to someone "slandering" the AKC rep: I agree they shouldn't have made a blanket statement about what kind of person she is. But she was at the show, had to know this horrible conflict was coming up. Would it have been out of bounds to suggest to someone that they not go through with this? I really don't know, just asking.Anonymous, because of fear.

Mrs. Stacey's husband should be ashamed to try to fix this very sad situation.The dog should never be entered. Period .I agree the dog had to pass the Breed Judge and the group judge to get to Mrs. Stacey.And Mr. Stacey just a question: Did you have any contact with those judges prior the Monday show?If it was the National weekend, why did you and your wife accepted assignments for that weekend?When Mrs. Stacey's did the breed at Westminster Kennel Club how many Tamarim Affens where entered? And who won BOB, BOS and both awards?Just a sad, huge and intensional mistake.A disgrace for the sport.

Im not surprised at all. If you dont know that Mrs Stacey has the reputation of being 'corrupt' then youve chosen to look the other way.And YES the handler shouldve known better than to even enter a show where the breeder of her dog was judging. Its tacky and wrong on many different levels!

As a relative new-comer to the sport of pure-bred dogs, I am shocked that this could be allowed to happen. I don't know if it defies rules or not, but it defies common sense at the very least. What a "sport". Time for a huge clean-up in the judging ranks.

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The author has been attending dog shows as a spectator and exhibitor for over 45 years. He is a retired management consultant who has advised multiple organizations affiliated with the AKC and the Cat Fanciers Association on business management, long range planning, customer service, and legislative matters. After 25 years of living in the big cities of New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, he now resides in his hometown of Memphis, TN.

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